we’ve arrived “home-home”

we made it “home-home”!

loving family escorted us to the airport.
http://instagram.com/p/kgRx8hrElo/
on the way the reality of another stint on the east side sunk in.

the last 3 days i often felt like i was a baby bird sitting nicely in my “homey” nest when all of a sudden i felt the winds of change.  each mighty gust lifting my wings from my body.  and i felt the knowing.  soon, that mighty wind was going to propel me right on out of my comfort zone, back into the unknown.  a world i know, & yet one that holds so much mystery.

like the bird perched high above, i have a limited view of the future.

will this stint be like our first one: full of illness, pain, suffering?  or will it resemble our second one: full of grand surprises, great movements, & fulfillment?

surely it will be like neither.

but when your life is divided by chunks of years, so much of who we’ve become is defined by each chunk and it’s only natural to wonder in what ways will we be defined during this chunk.

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during our travels…

sterling did amazing!  seriously.  he’s definitely got this jet set thing down.  he was the one to bring me comfort at our sad “see ya later”.  he was sweet & silly.  lavishing kisses on me, drying my tears & bringing me smiles.  he slept 11 hours straight of our 15 hour flight.  when we made our final arrival he really surprised us by pushing a cart full of luggage through the airport.  he couldn’t see where he was going, but even so, he was extremely helpful!

liberty did pretty well herself!  her sleep patterns were more sporadic.  a few hours here, a few there.  but overall, she handled herself well.  towards the end she was quite worn out but still functional & reasonable.  one of my greatest concerns is that we’d have some kind of “accident” but that proved not to be the case!  upon our final arrival she was exhausted & none-too-thrilled with the 12 degree, windy weather.  but we even managed to make it through that relatively well!

jarod didn’t sleep much at all during our entire ordeal, but thanks to Dad’s sustaining grace, he did well and even had the energy to pull my weight.  literally.

because the entire time i didn’t do so well.  i was sick the entire first flight.  and by the time i got on the 2^nd flight i only had a cup of water in my stomach.  by the time we landed i was weak, famished & in desperate need of some nourishment.  but naturally fearful that i couldn’t hold anything down.

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at noon when we got “home-home” we were greeted by a nice, clean home, food staples & loving friends who brought us lunch.  jarod was very patient with me during the entire day.  which meant i’d eat a bite or two & then go lay down when the nausea kicked in.  i “rested” most of the day away.

but i can assure you the sprouts had a blast – even without me!  by evening time i noticed every single toy was strewn across our living room!  i so wish i had a before & after picture!  perfection turned chaos!

another friend came by while i was out of commission & helped jarod put things away.  jarod was grateful for the company & all the help.  so was i, as it meant jarod didn’t have to do everything himself.

we couldn’t be more grateful for the love & sacrifice our friends made on our behalf yesterday!

so it was, after a full two days the sprouts were happily in bed at 7 pm & we followed soon thereafter.

…and yes, we all pretty much slept through the night!